# 1969 American Football League season

The 1969 AFL season was the tenth and final regular season of the American Football League. To honor the AFL's tenth season, a special anniversary logo was designed and each Kansas City Chiefs player wore a patch on his jersey with the logo during Super Bowl IV, the final AFL-NFL World Championship Game prior to the AFL–NFL merger.
The Chiefs defeated the Oakland Raiders in the final AFL Championship Game, then soundly defeated the National Football League's Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV.

## Division races

In its final two years of existence, the AFL had ten teams, grouped into two divisions. Each team played a home-and-away game against the other four teams in its division, a home-and-away series against one of the five teams in opposite division, and one game each against the remaining four teams from the opposite division. Using that format, the defending World Champion New York Jets went 10–0 against the five teams they played twice, but were 0–4 against the top four teams in the West.
For the 1969 season, a provision was made for a four-team playoff to determine the AFL champion, the league's representative in the Super Bowl, with the #1 team in the division hosting the #2 team in the opposite division. The NFL also had a four-team playoff, introduced in 1967, matching the winners of the Capitol and Century divisions, and the Coastal and Central divisions.
The 1970 merger placed the ten AFL teams (along with three teams from the pre-1970 NFL) into the 13-team AFC. The other NFL teams went into the 13-team NFC.
| Week | Eastern #1 | | Eastern #2 | | Western #1 | | Western #2 | |
| 1 | N.Y. Jets | 1–0–0 | Hou, Bos, Buf, Mia | 0–1–0 | Oak, KC, Den, Cin | 1–0–0 | Oak, KC, Den, Cin | 1–0–0 |
| 2 | Hou, NY | 1–1–0 | Hou, NY | 1–1–0 | Oak, KC, Den, Cin | 2–0–0 | Oak, KC, Den, Cin | 2–0–0 |
| 3 | Houston | 2–1–0 | NY, Buf | 1–2–0 | Oak, Cin | 3–0–0 | Oak, Cin | 3–0–0 |
| 4 | Houston | 3–1–0 | N.Y. Jets | 2–2–0 | Oakland | 3–0–1 | Kansas City | 3–1–0 |
| 5 | NY, Hou | 3–2–0 | NY, Hou | 3–2–0 | Oakland | 4–0–1 | Kansas City | 4–1–0 |
| 6 | N.Y. Jets | 4–2–0 | Houston | 3–3–0 | Oakland | 5–0–1 | Kansas City | 5–1–0 |
| 7 | N.Y. Jets | 5–2–0 | Houston | 4–3–0 | Oakland | 6–0–1 | Kansas City | 6–1–0 |
| 8 | N.Y. Jets | 6–2–0 | Houston | 4–4–0 | Kansas City | 7–1–0 | Oakland | 6–1–1 |
| 9 | N.Y. Jets | 7–2–0 | Houston | 4–4–1 | Kansas City | 8–1–0 | Oakland | 7–1–1 |
| 10 | N.Y. Jets | 7–3–0 | Houston | 4–4–2 | Kansas City | 9–1–0 | Oakland | 8–1–1 |
| 11 | N.Y. Jets | 8–3–0 | Houston | 5–4–2 | Oakland | 9–1–1 | Kansas City | 9–2–0 |
| 12 | N.Y. Jets | 8–4–0 | Houston | 5–5–2 | Oakland | 10–1–1 | Kansas City | 10–2–0 |
| 13 | N.Y. Jets | 9–4–0 | Houston | 5–6–2 | Oakland | 11–1–1 | Kansas City | 11–2–0 |
| 14 | N.Y. Jets | 10–4–0 | Houston | 6–6–2 | Oakland | 12–1–1 | Kansas City | 11–3–0 |

## Regular season
### Results

| Home/Road | Home/Road | Eastern Division | Eastern Division | Eastern Division | Eastern Division | Eastern Division | Western Division | Western Division | Western Division | Western Division | Western Division |
| Home/Road | Home/Road | BOS | BUF | HOU | MIA | NY | CIN | DEN | KC | OAK | SD |
| Eastern | Boston Patriots | | 35–21 | 24–0 | 16–17 | 14–23 | | | 0–31 | 23–38 | 10–13 |
| Eastern | Buffalo Bills | 23–16 | | 3–17 | 28–3 | 19–33 | 16–13 | 41–28 | 7–29 | | |
| Eastern | Houston Oilers | 27–23 | 28–14 | | 22–10 | 26–34 | 31–31 | 24–21 | | | 17–21 |
| Eastern | Miami Dolphins | 23–38 | 24–6 | 7–32 | | 9–27 | | 27–24 | | 20–20 | 14–21 |
| Eastern | New York Jets | 23–17 | 16–6 | 26–17 | 34–31 | | 40–7 | | 16–34 | 14–27 | |
| Western | Cincinnati Bengals | 14–25 | | | 27–21 | 7–21 | | 23–30 | 24–19 | 31–17 | 34–20 |
| Western | Denver Broncos | 35–7 | | 20–20 | | 21–19 | 27–16 | | 13–26 | 14–24 | 13–0 |
| Western | Kansas City Chiefs | | 22–19 | 24–0 | 17–10 | | 42–22 | 31–17 | | 24–27 | 27–3 |
| Western | Oakland Raiders | | 50–21 | 21–17 | 20–17 | | 37–17 | 41–10 | 10–6 | | 21–16 |
| Western | San Diego Chargers | 28–18 | 45–6 | | | 34–27 | 21–14 | 45–24 | 9–27 | 12–24 | |

### Standings

For its tenth and final season before merging with the NFL, the AFL instituted a four team playoff tournament with the second place teams in each division also participating.
AFL Eastern Division :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | PF | PA | STK |
| New York Jets | 10 | 4 | 0 | .714 | 8–0 | 353 | 269 | W2 |
| Houston Oilers | 6 | 6 | 2 | .500 | 5–3 | 278 | 279 | W1 |
| Boston Patriots | 4 | 10 | 0 | .286 | 3–5 | 266 | 316 | L2 |
| Buffalo Bills | 4 | 10 | 0 | .286 | 2–6 | 230 | 359 | L2 |
| Miami Dolphins | 3 | 10 | 1 | .231 | 2–6 | 233 | 332 | L1 |
AFL Western Division :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | PF | PA | STK |
| Oakland Raiders | 12 | 1 | 1 | .923 | 7–1 | 377 | 242 | W6 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 11 | 3 | 0 | .786 | 5–3 | 359 | 177 | L1 |
| San Diego Chargers | 8 | 6 | 0 | .571 | 2–6 | 288 | 276 | W4 |
| Denver Broncos | 5 | 8 | 1 | .385 | 3–5 | 297 | 344 | W1 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 4 | 9 | 1 | .308 | 3–5 | 280 | 367 | L5 |

## Playoffs

| Divisional Playoff Games | Divisional Playoff Games | AFL Championship Game | AFL Championship Game |
| December 20, 1969 – Shea Stadium | December 20, 1969 – Shea Stadium |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 13 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 13 | January 4, 1970 – Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | January 4, 1970 – Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum |
| New York Jets | 6 | January 4, 1970 – Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | January 4, 1970 – Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum |
| New York Jets | 6 | Kansas City Chiefs | 17 |
| December 21, 1969 – Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | December 21, 1969 – Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | | Kansas City Chiefs | 17 |
| December 21, 1969 – Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | December 21, 1969 – Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | Oakland Raiders | 7 |
| Houston Oilers | 7 | Oakland Raiders | 7 |
| Oakland Raiders | 56 | | |

### Super Bowl

The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Minnesota Vikings 23–7 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 11, 1970. The Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award was given to Chiefs quarterback Len Dawson

## Stadium changes

* After six seasons at Fenway Park, the Boston Patriots moved to Alumni Stadium at Boston College in 1969.

## Coaching changes
### Offseason

* Boston Patriots: Mike Holovak was fired and replaced by Clive Rush.
* Buffalo Bills: John Rauch became the new Bills head coach after resigning from the Oakland Raiders. Joe Collier was fired after two games into the 1968 season, and defensive coordinator Harvey Johnson then served as interim head coach.
* Oakland Raiders: John Madden replaced John Rauch, who resigned to join the Bills. At age 33, Madden become the youngest head coach in pro football.

### In-season

* San Diego Chargers: Sid Gillman sat out five games due to health issues. Charlie Waller, the team's offensive backfield coach, served as interim.

## Officials

| Referee | Umpire | Head Linesman | Line Judge | Back Judge | Field Judge |
| (#12) Ben Dreith | (#27) Al Conway | (#74) Ray Dodez | (#24) Bruce Alford | (#44) Dick Eichhorst | (#58) Bob Baur |
| (#14) Bob Finley | (#78) Art Demmas | (#34) Harry Kessel | (#62) Gerry Hart | (#45) John Fouch | (#52) Pat Mallette |
| (#18) Walt Fitzgerald | (#53) Frank Kirkland | (#32) Cal Lepore | (#67) Tommy Miller | (#70) Hugh Gamber | (#55) Charley Musser |
| (#11) John McDonough | (#25) Walt Parker | (#35) Leo Miles | (#61) John Steffen | (#49) Hunter Jackson | (#50) Tony Skover |
| (#42) Jack Reader | (#20) Frank Sinkovitz | (#50) Al Saboto | (#65) Aaron Wade | (#43) Bill Kestermeier | (#57) Bill Summers |
| (#15) Jack Vest | (#22) Paul Trepinski | (#36) Tony Veteri | (#68) Bill Wright | (#48) Bob Rice | (#54) Bob Wortman |